Chapter Text
"Clio!" Percy hollers at you from across the lunch room. You wave at him and Grover and make your way to them.
"Did you hear about the field trip to the museum?" Grover asks.
You set your tray down and say, "yeah, it sounds great doesn't it?" You adore history, Percy might be less than enthused, but you? You feel like you’ve won the lotto. Growing up in the foster care system and eventually just boarding schools; it really doesn't give a person many opportunities like this.
"At least we won't be at school." Percy agrees.
You pick up your fork and play with your mixed vegetables. "Oh come on Perc, all those stories? Mr. Brunner is going to lead the trip, you love his classes!" Grover and Percy are your two best friends at Yancy Academy(your only two friends actually). Percy and you started at the same times and, apparently, the two of you are pretty similar.
Well, to a point anyway. Percy's...accidents…are a bit more intense than yours. The social workers couldn't be bothered with you after four different families sent you back. They really hoped this school would straighten you out…after last time. But okay, listen, it really wasn't your fault that you leaked that archival information about your last school. They tried to push some unforgivable things under the rug, you couldn't stand for that.
"Yeah, and we'll get to see those textiles!" Grover adds, you look at him and laugh. He looks like he's dreaming about eating them not appreciating them.
"Yeah, well, I just hope Nancy Bobofit keeps her hands to herself." Percy grumbles.
Grover tries, "Oh, come on Percy, try to have a good time. Its a field trip."
Percy can generally get anyone to laugh, but after his last detention, he's been a bit off.
"Jackson, I'll keep you out of trouble. Just stick with me!" You wrap your arm around his shoulders and shake him a bit, finally getting a reluctant grin out of him.
"Yeah, that'll be the day." Grover grumbles under his breath.
You turned to him in mock shock. "What in heavens name could you be implying, Mr. Underwood?"
"All I'm saying is trouble follows both of you around like fleas on dogs." He replies.
Percy gasps in mock surprise, "I've never caused trouble in my life!" You’re barely holding back a laugh at this point and Percy’s grinning.
Even Grover can’t withholding a smile, "oh, so you didn't stand guard while this one," Grover sticks a finger into your shoulder, "broke into the councilors office?"
"I didn't 'break in.' I picked the lock!" You say, starting to pout at this, "you have to actually break something to break in." You grumble under your breath. Percy laughs and elbows you playfully. "Besides, I knew that councilor was stealing kids mail. I was right."
"And you both got a weeks worth of detention for it." Grover says with an eyebrow raise.
"Okay, okay you two." Percy starts. The bell rings. “Lets go to class, before we get another detention." He finishes.
The day of the field trip is pretty cool. There are storms all over New York, but luckily, you only have a cloudy forecast. Percy barely pays attention and Grover seems to really dislike the sub, Mrs. Dodds. He keeps glancing at her looking very nervous, like he thought she'd sprout wings or fangs or something.
You, as always, can’t keep still. This place is everything you want to do in life and by the time you all get to the Ancient Greek exhibit, you are barely keeping your mouth shut.
Mr. Brunner mentions that Zeus managed to get away and trick Kronos with a rock, you blurt out, "Thats completely erasing Rhea! She's the whole reason..." you trail off, Mr. B is raising an eyebrow at you. You blush and apologize, but he just nods.
"You're very right, Clio. I was over simplifying things for the sake of your classmates attention." He smiles at you after that and Percy nudges you, grinning. He loves to see you embarrassed, he thinks it’s hilarious. Although, the feeling goes both ways. Some of Nancy’s friends snicker and Nancy says something you don’t quite hear. You notice Percy shoot a glare back towards them though. You touch his arm and shake your head almost imperceptibly. Percy’s already on thin ice and you don’t want to have to finish the school year without your best friend.
A short while after this interaction, everyone on the field trip is sitting on the steps, eating their lunches.
"What was that in the Greek exhibit?" Grover asks after he finishes fixing his sandwich.
"What do you mean?" You ask back, picking pieces off your bread and throwing them to the pigeons.
"You almost seemed angry about Rhea being written out of the gods story." He explains.
You shrug, "I'm not a fan of history being edited."
"Greek mythology isn't history." Percy argues.
Your eyes sparkle, excited to share your theory on mythology. "All mythos and folklore is based in fact. It might have been embellished, like it could be the story of an original civilization that turned into legend and then into religion and-"
"You lost me." Percy says, a glazed look in his eyes. You just sigh, shaking your head.
Nancy Bobofit comes over, just to cause issues and interrupt your conversation. Percy gets a bit too heated. Which is fair in your opinion, Nancy is a bully and neither of you can stand a bully.
He storms over to her and somehow a wall of water comes up from behind him. You could swear a hand forms from it and yanks her into the fountain.
"Holy shit, dude!" You exclaim, pulling Percy back. Mrs. Dodds yells his name, causing you both to jump. She makes him come with her and you watch as the two of them head back into the museum. Its weird though, you could have sworn she is teleporting up the steps. She just moves way too fast.
"Grover, did you see-" you turn to look at him and he's gone. You stand then, confused. You look for Mr. Brunner, but he's gone too. No one seems to notice so you just decide, if Percy is gonna get into trouble, I can at least argue his side.
You hate when people get blamed for defending themselves, not that you felt like Percy could be blamed for a fountain exploding. You race up the steps, but as you reach the door, Percy steps out of the museum, covered in weird smelling, yellow dust. He looks like he's seen a ghost.
"Percy? Are you okay?" You start brushing the dust off but…is it disappearing? No you must be imagining things. Percy starts telling you that Ms. Dodds had sprouted wings and fangs and asked about a lighting bolt. He says Mr. Brunner (who was yelling at you to get back to the group) gave him a pen that turned into a sword. He says he killed Mrs. Dodds and she turned into the dust. "Okay, Percy, listen to me." He focuses on you "you really, really, shouldn't talk about that with just anyone okay? I believe you, but they're gonna treat you even worse-"
"Percy, Clio, it's time to go!" Mr. B calls again.
"We'll figure it out and then confront them about it alright?" He agrees and you head back down the steps.
Boys and Girls aren't allowed into each others rooms so Percy and you cant discuss the situation in any more detail that night. Well, at least not without getting into trouble and with Percy in so much trouble…it has you out and roaming the halls as per usual. Absently, you find yourself in the hall Mr. Brunner's class is held. A noise causes you to look up and there is Percy Jackson, waving his hands at you. You give him a look and almost laugh; obviously, he is telling you to be quiet but he looks a little funny waving all around like that.
Too late you realize the light in Mr. B's room is on and Percy has been eves-dropping. You hear something like hooves, Percy gestures for you to run and he turns to do the same.
“Damnit Jackson!” You whisper in annoyance. You turn to the nearest class room and try the door, locked, of course. You press yourself into the doorway, praying you can hide behind the doorframe, eyes closed (as if that would help).
No such luck.
"Clio?"
"Grover?" You open you eyes to see your friend…without his shoes on. “Um...?"
"You should come with me." He says nervously as he leads you back to Mr. Brunner's room.
"Ah...on our nightly walk, Ms. Smith?" He murmurs.
You ignore the fact that Mr. Brunner knows about your detention worthy nighttime activities to point out the obvious, "Grover, why do you have hooves?" You are staring at them which is, for sure, rude, but you can’t help it. "It was real. Percy killed a monster."
Grover and Mr. Brunner glance at each other. "Ah..." is all Mr. Brunner says.
"Percy has to think he's wrong!" Grover exclaims, following his outburst with his nervous little laugh.
You start to back away from them towards the door. "I don't know about that..." has Grover been lying about being your friend this whole time? Are they also monsters? No way those things you’ve seen are real…are they?
You turn to run out, but the door slams shut in your face. Instantly changing tactics, you lunge for the suit of armor in the corner and pick up the sword, holding it between you. It isn’t as awkward as you thought it’d be. You might even be able to get a good whack in if you have to, "if you're monsters, you'll...you'll have to go through me to get at my friend!" You sound a lot braver than you feel.
Your back is up against a door and Mr. Brunner is starting to…stand? Your sword hand droops a bit, "uh...Mr. B?" Again, you know staring is wrong, but the whole back half of a horse comes out of a wheelchair. You think you can be forgiven. "You...you're a centaur?" The sword falls, clattering across the floor and you notice that the room is suddenly full of a strange blue glow. Grover and Mr. Brunner are staring at something above your head. You look up to catch the remnants of a glowing symbol, a scroll falling from a chest. "What is that?" You ask looking back at them.
Grover looks confused and even more nervous, he’s worrying his hands now. "Which god has that symbol?" He asks.
"Not a god, a goddess. Clio, muse of history." Mr. B murmurs.
"I've never seen someone claimed outside of camp." Grover mutters.
"Muse of history? What, she blessed me or something?" You ask in confusion. "Why, cause I like history so much?" That reaction is weird it’s true, but you physically saw a glowing symbol above you so how else are you supposed to react? It isn’t like you’d scream and run, although, maybe you should have based on how this chronicle ends…
Mr. Brunner regards you for a moment before seemingly deciding something. "No, she has claimed you as her daughter."
You start laughing then, both of them stay serious, but this has to be an episode of 'Punked' or something. You scoff, "well you can't be serious." You argue.
"I'm afraid so my dear." Mr. Brunner says softly, "as such, you'll need to be taken somewhere safe where you can train."
"Your name isn't...it isn't Mr. Brunner is it?" It’s another stupid question honestly, but you are having a crazy night, again you think you can be forgiven for that.
"My name is Chiron, tutor to hero's." He answers.
Grover is looking at you as if you are going to jump scare him. "Chiron, what does it mean that she was claimed outside of camp though?" Grover asks again.
"I'm not sure my young satyr." He responds.
A sharp pain is starting behind your eyes and you wince. "This cannot be happening..."
"We'll send you to camp tomorrow morning." Mr. B, scratch that, Chiron is saying. It's hard to really focus on what they’re saying. Finding out you have a parent when you've been living alone for as long as you can remember? That is hard. Finding out that living parent is a god? That's a whole other ballpark.
"You aren't a child of the main twelve so you should be safe to travel alone, but we'll have another protector meet you here.” Mr. B is saying.
Your voice sounds far away as you ask, "what about Percy? I've met his mom..." Another dumb question, at least your mom isn’t the goddess of wisdom.
"Percy has his own destiny." Chiron explains, not understanding your question.
"I can't just disappear on him." You argue.
"I'll stick with him." Grover assures you.
You’re quiet for a beat, "and the government?" You ask.
"What about it?" Grover asks.
You give him a look, "they'll come looking for me? What are we telling them?"
"They won't come looking for you." Chiron says.
Now, this was before you knew what the mist was or anything like that. So honestly, as a kid that everyone wished didn't exist, well, it did not sit well. Mostly because you are positive, Chiron is right.
"Percy is gonna ask questions." You insist.
"I'll tell him you got expelled." Grover answers easily, shrugging a shoulder.
"Go pack now child, camp awaits." Chiron suggests gently.
Grover leaves when you do, so you cant even sneak into Percy's room. Now it's not that Grover scares you, but he’s lost your trust with all the secrecy. You want to explain things to Percy alone. He is like a brother to you. You’ve been figuring things out together since school started last fall. Sure maybe that seems like a short amount of time to be so close to someone, but sometimes you find your people and you just click.
You stop by the exit of the school. You can run, right now. All of this is insane anyway. Camp, gods, satyrs...Chiron, ancient teacher of demi-god hero's...mom...you shake your head. A little annoying voice says, just imagine the history you'll be privy to, okay, thanks brain. Sure, but also, didn't most of those old hero's die awful deaths? Like, you’re pretty sure Heracles literally tried to burn himself to death before the gods intervened…
"Ms. Smith?"
You jump. Mr. Brunner nearly causes you to have a heart attack. “Jeez Mr. B..." you complain, turning back to look at him.
"My apologies, I did not mean to frighten you." He says, fixing the blanket over the legs of his wheelchair.
"Yeah well..." you turn back to the door. You really don’t want to talk to him, but guess that isn’t in your cards.
"Running away won't help you know." He says gently.
You roll your eyes, nodding back at him, "what, you read minds too?"
He chuckles softly. "It could be the prolonged stare out of the main exit."
You sigh quietly, you don't know what you expected; Mr. B is really observant. "Chiron, don't hero's..." you heave a huge sigh and turn away from the door and back towards him. "Grover said no one had been claimed outside of camp?" You decide to ask instead.
He is quiet for a moment, seeming to decide if he will ignore your first question or not. Eventually he asks, "true, and your question?"
That makes you stop and think because you thought the question is obvious. "She needed to tell you...were...were you going to leave me here?"
He looks away, out the doors himself. "Hmm, our focus has been on Percy." He explains, rubbing his chin in thought. "She was eager to claim you, so we wouldn't overlook you I believe. Over Mr. Jackson’s aura, even I didn’t realize what you were."
You turn away again. Aura, what the hell does that mean? "Well, I guess I'll go to sleep." You say, not wanting to really listen to how unremarkable you are even amongst your friends.
When you start to leave though, Chiron stops you again. "I know you and Percy are close, don't hold the future against him. You have very different destinies." He looks sad then and you wonder if it's your destiny or Percy's that's made him look so melancholic.
"You can't fight fate." You murmur, you don’t know who that’s supposed to comfort. It sure doesn’t feel comforting to you…
He sighs, "too true, child."
You take two steps away before stopping and turning back to him abruptly. "Chiron, can I change my name?" Your hands fidget with the hem of your pj top. You can’t help but look anywhere but at him.
Bemused, he asks, "why would you want to do that?"
You groan, "I mean, its like being named junior...won’t people…make fun of me?"
He regards you for a moment, a favorite past time it seems. A slight smile turns the corners of his mouth up. "I don't thing anyone would dare. Your mother is still a goddess."
"Right..." you sigh “well, thanks anyway..” you say and walk back to your dorm. You wonder if Sally knew about Percy and you. Well, it would make sense if Sally was a goddess, she's way too kind hearted to be anything else. Thinking back to Christmas brings a smile to your face.
~
She had practically forced Percy to invite you over when she found out you’d be staying at school for the holidays. You’d both tried to convince Grover too, but he had holiday plans. Percy's step-dad, "smelly Gabe," was kind of terrible, well actually, really terrible, but you stayed out of his way. You’d had celebrations before at the orphanage, but you’d never been given a personal gift before. The Jackson's got you a few old, ragged editions of the history and mythology of Greece. They were old and falling apart and so, so beautiful.
You cried, Sally cried, and Percy laughed. You ended up punching him and the three of you all started laughing. Ms. Jackson ordered you Chinese before you all watched old black and white Christmas movies. Percy and you had a blue marshmallow war in the apartment while you were waiting for the delivery person.
Sally's last letter said she was still finding them when she cleaned the apartment, this time had been on the top of a book shelf. You were supposed to stay for a week this summer...you wonder if that’s over now.
~
You only have a duffle bag's worth of clothes and the books and letters Ms. Jackson had given you that fit into your backpack. You knew you should sleep, but you decided to reread your books again, at least the mythology parts. You figure you’d need to burn them into your mind.
The next morning, really early, a guy with a baseball bat was with Chiron when he knocked on your door. You must have looked like hell because Chiron raised an eyebrow and the guy with the bat asked,
"You ever heard of sleep cupcake?"
"A tough night?" Chiron asks.
"Just...strategizing...I guess." You zipped your books up and it must have caught his eye because a faint smile crosses his features.
"Clio, this is Gleeson Hedge. He will be your protector on the way to camp."
You offer your hand and Hedge shakes it, nearly shaking your brain from your skull.
"Nice to meet you cupcake, we left the van running."
"Oh, yeah...sure." You lift your duffle bag and glance at Chiron. "You promise Percy'll be okay?"
"We'll do our best, Clio." He responds.
You heave a sigh, wondering if this is how protagonists in fantasy novels feel. "Lets go."
Getting to camp actually wasn't too bad. Gleeson regaled you with his many 'battles' and told you all about camp. He asked about you but theres not a whole lot to tell. You told him about the orphanage and he said he was sorry to hear about your mortal parent. You then had to explain that he wasn't dead (as far as you knew), he just hadn't wanted you. You laughed about it then, but he seemed to know it wasn't as honest as you wished it was. Your laughter trailed off into uncomfortable silence.
"So, your moms a muse?" He asks after a few moments of quiet.
"I guess so..." you were sat between stacks of empty strawberry containers. You tried to keep your eyes on them instead of the lady (harpy) driver.
"Don't worry about it kid. If anyone gives you problems just send 'em to me." He puffs up his chest and smacks his bat against the crates, showering the two of you in wood chips.
You laugh and brush the bits of wood from your shirt and bag. "I'll make sure to do that." Well, if it turned out really really badly, at least Hedge had your back and maybe Percy would be coming soon too.
Gleeson went on to talk a bit about the camps layout and the activities. He seemed very eager to talk about weapons class and the lava wall. The idea of a lava wall caught you by suprise, but he made it sound normal. It’s astonishing how quickly things you would have never believed in before were well, believable.
When the van parks, you look up at the hill before you. At the top stood a lonely pine.
"No turning back now," you mutter.
"That's the spirit kid!" Gleeson races up the hill and you follow, practically wheezing by the time you get to the tree. "Welcome, to Camp Half-Blood." He waves his bat out over the valley thats spread out under you. If you hadn't already been struggling to breath normally it would have taken your breath away. It was like a summer camps dream. There was a big farm house painted blue with an eagle weather mane below you. A huge lake leading out to the ocean. There was a forest and arena, stables and a crescent moon of cabins flanked on either side by two white marble temples. It reminded you of pictures you’d seen of Ancient Roman and Greek architecture.
"Woah..." Brilliant, you know, but you were pretty sure anyone else seeing it for the first time would have trouble with coherent thoughts too.
"Come on kid, lets meet your head camp councilor and Mr. D.”
You started heading down the hill, following Hedge. Questions-that probably should have been asked-just spun around your head. Like, there are more than twelve gods, if your mom was a muse, was there a seperate part of camp for kids of lesser gods? Who's Mr. D? How many kids have godly parents? If you already have a camp councilor, were they from your cabin or is there just one for everyone? Although, maybe it's better you didn't bombard Hedge with a bunch of questions.
As you got to level ground again, you noticed that there's a bored looking character sitting on the porch of the farm house. When you are within speaking distance, Hedge bows to him.
"My lord, I have safely brought the daughter of Clio."
You didn't bow really but you felt you should bob your head a bit, just to show deference since Hedge was.
"So, you're the one Chiron was talking about?" He still looks bored as he observes you.
"I suppose so sir. My name's-"
"Clio, like your mother." He answers for you. You’re not sure why it makes you so annoyed, but if you were going to continually be reminded of how idiotic the hospital had been in naming you, well you weren’t going to be happy about it. That’s for sure.
"Quite." Mr. D. seems to answer your thoughts, causing you to glance up and regard him closer. He has a leopard print shirt on and a diet coke in his hand.
"I suppose you're Mr. D?" You ask, warry of him.
"You're quite right to be warry of a god, child." he responds as though he hasn't heard you.
"God?" You ask, eyeing him. He sure doesn’t look like what you thought a god should look like.
"You expect us all to wear chiton's everyday?" He asks. You can't really tell if it’s amusement of not in his tone. He just seems to be perpetually bored.
"Uh, I guess I did actually." You admit, "wait, leopard print, god, D...The only god I know with a D is Dionysus, god of wine." You glance at the can in his hand again, unconvinced. If you hadn’t reread all those myths last night you probably couldn’t have even guessed off the top of your head.
"Your first lesson is: names have power. Don't use the proper names of gods unless you want their attention." He responds, you can tell that ‘their attention’ was more a threat then anything. He doesn't verbally answer your conclusion, but you figure his non-answer is the answer.
"Right." You answer, glancing at Hedge who’s still bowing.
When you look back up Dionysus has raised an eyebrow and sighs. "Well, go on and meet with your cabin counselor." He waves a hand to dismiss you.
"Uh, thanks," you think for half a second and added a quick, "sir," to the end before following Hedge away from the farm house.
"Well, that went well." Hedge says.
"You could have warned me he was a god!" You exclaim, annoyed that you were thrown into a meeting with a being that could kill you with a thought. At least they probably could, right?
"That's not my place. Anyway, you'll be in cabin eleven." He points to a very, normal looking cabin towards the end of one row. All the other cabins have some kind of stand out trait, cabin eleven really doesn't. It looks like any normal camp cabin, just bigger.
"That's the cabin for the muses?" You ask.
"The muses don't have a cabin kid, that's Hermes." You stop a few yards from the door, hearing indistinct yelling from inside.
You stop abruptly. “What do you mean there isn't one for the muses?" You demand, turned towards him.
Hedge doesn’t respond he just gestures with his bat towards the door. “That’s your counselor.”
You turn, watching a handsome boy with a scar across his eye emerge and walk down the few steps towards the two of you.
"You're the new recruit?" He asks, a smile filling his face half-heartidly. "I'm Luke, your camp councilor."